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National Employment Standards “stuck in the past”

The National Employment Standards are failing to keep pace with the realities of modern work – especially for women and non binary people juggling paid work, caring responsibilities and insecure jobs.
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The National Employment Standards (NES) is stuck in the past, failing to keep pace with the realities of modern work or address persistent gender inequality – especially for women and non binary people juggling paid work, caring responsibilities, insecure jobs and barriers to enforcement.

That’s what the Working Women’s Centre Victoria told a Federal Government hearing into the minimum employment entitlements provided to workers across the country.

Working Women Centre Victoria’s Sharmiah Sritharan and Jennifer Jones said the current National Employment Standards don’t account for the realities of insecure work, fragmented hours, unpaid care, reproductive health needs and cultural obligations — all everyday features of working life.

“Ensuring the National Employment Standards reflect contemporary work and supports gender equality is critical to improving economic security and workplace safety for all workers,”  Ms Sritharan told the hearing in Melbourne.

The Working Women’s Centre Victoria supports workers to understand and access their rights under the National Employment Standards, identify when entitlements are not being met, and take action to enforce them. This includes providing legal advice, assisting with wage and entitlement recovery, and helping workers navigate complaints and dispute resolution processes.

Through this work, a clear pattern has emerged: the workers who rely most on the National Employment Standards are the least able to benefit from it in practice.

“The National Employment Standards are supposed to be a safety net for workers but it’s falling short. In practice, this means entitlements are often out of reach. Not because they don’t exist, but because they cannot be accessed or enforced.” , Ms Jones told the hearing.

The Working Women’s Centre Victoria assisted

  • workers returning from parental leave being made redundant or pushed out of their roles
  • part-time workers receiving reduced redundancy entitlements, despite years of service
  • workers unable to access sufficient leave to manage care, grief or cultural obligations
  • complex and inaccessible enforcement systems that place the burden on individuals

Ms Sritharan and Ms Jones joined a panel alongside Victorian Women Lawyers, the Centre for Future Work, Dr Amanda Selvarajah and Victorian Trades Hall Council.

The panel highlighted the need for reforms to:

  • strengthen flexible work rights and care-related leave
  • introduce paid reproductive health leave
  • improve redundancy protections following parental leave
  • expand compassionate leave to better reflect real-life needs
  • create more accessible enforcement pathways

Working Women’s Centre Victorian contributed to a national submission to the review of the National Employment Standards (NES), led by Working Women’s Centre Australia Read submission here: NES Submission – Working Women’s Centre Australia | Working Women’s Centre Australia

In February 2026, Working Women’s Centre Victoria contributed to the national submission to the review of the National Employment Standards (NES), led by Working Women’s Centre Australia (WWCA), providing detailed feedback based on our experience supporting women and non-binary people in the workplace.

Following this submission, The Working Women’s Centre Victoria was pleased to appear at public hearings in Melbourne on Friday 1 May for the Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations, Skills and Training.